Highland planning blog

As New Yorkers, we cherish our summers. As planners, we know that summer can be a challenging time to engage communities in planning initiatives. We’re competing with summer vacations, festivals, backyard cookouts, and sunny weather. No one wants to sit indoors on a beautiful summer evening. How can we take advantage of summer weather to engage community members in our planning initiatives?

Here are some examples of engagement techniques that take advantage of warm weather and long days!

Hosta paddle meeting. Invite participants to experience a waterfront site or trail from a new perspective (i.e. from the water itself). Give community members the chance to experience the water, learn about waterfront access, redevelopment, and think in new ways about future opportunities. Kayaks, stand-up paddle boards (SUPs), and canoes can offer a low impact and accessible way for people of all paddling abilities to participate.​

​Tip: Consider partnering with an established kayak/canoe rental company. They can arrange for waivers, insurance, safety equipment, instruction, and often will transport boats to and from your desired location.

Photo Courtesy: Buffalo Harbor Kayak

Leada bike tour. Help community members experience a trail, connection, or street by bike—for the first time or in a brand new way.

Tip: Find a short route (1-3 miles) that you can use to showcase your site, corridor, or trail in 60 to 90 minutes. Pick a safe and interesting location along the route to dismount and engage participants in an interactive exercise. Prompt participants to think about their experience in a new way and share their reflections with you.

Host a Bike Trolley Pedal Tour. Fifteen people on a giant bike. Need I say more?

Tip: If your site is not within an area that is already served by a pedal tour company, find out if the company can transport the bike trolley to your desired location. Keep the route short and consider offering multiple trips of 30 to 40 minutes each.

Use alternativeforms of transportation to engage elderly or disabled community members. Consider including golf carts along with the above techniques to allow less mobile members of the community to participate.​

​Tip: There are golf cart rental companies that will deliver golf carts to you. Rental fees can vary from daily fees ($75-100) to package deals for multiple days.

Last month, the Western New York Section of the American Planning Association (APA) awardedthe City of Olean North Union Complete Street Transformation Project with the “Great Places in Western New York: Great Streets” award. We had worked on this project since 2012, and were thrilled receive this honor with our team partners from Mott MacDonald, Architectural Resources and SMA Consulting.The North Union Complete Street Transformation converted a four-lane automobile-oriented arterial roadway into a two-lane “complete street.” between State Street and Main Street. The new street supports economic vitality, improves the environment with innovative stormwater treatment, and improves mobility, safety, and accessibility for all users. The street formerly had four travel lanes and 15-foot diagonal parking on either side, for a total curb-to-curb width of 82 feet. Wide lanes encouraged speeding, and seven signalized intersections within the project area forced vehicles to either make frequent stops or try to avoid red lights by speeding.The project includes the following features:

New water main lines and service lines.

A new storm drainage system.

A landscaped, tree-lined median.

A separated roadway with a single travel lane and adjoining bicycle lane for each direction. With 18 feet of overall width, there is adequate space to pull over for emergency vehicles.

Curb bump-outs that extend out to the edge of the 17 feet of diagonal parking, making pedestrians more visible when crossing the street.

The project offers sustainability benefits in the areas of good repair, economic competitiveness, environmental sustainability, and safety.

State of Good RepairNorth Union Street was the primary commercial and entertainment district when Olean became an oil boom town after the Civil War. Many of the downtown buildings date from the late 1800s or early 1900s. The underground infrastructure also dates from this time, and sewer line and water line breaks are common.

North Union Street was last reconstructed in the 1970s. Public infrastructure was in poor condition and beyond its useful life. Numerous pedestrian facilities did not meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Sidewalks existed, but were generally in poor condition and lacked ADA accessible designs.To address the poor state of the infrastructure, the North Union Complete Street Transformation included these project objectives:

Replace outdated storm sewer and water lines.

Replace the seven traffic signals with five modern roundabouts.

Provide appropriate accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

Add bicycle lanes to encourage cycling.

Provide a cohesive public space through the addition of landscaping, lighting, and pedestrian amenities.

Economic competitivenessLarge employers and educational and medical institutions supported the project, believing it will create a downtown that will attract students, residents, and visitors, and help employers recruit the most qualified employees. The completed project is now expected to help attract much-needed capital investment to the corridor’s adjacent real estate and attract new businesses and residents to occupy the current vacancies.

In October 2016, Jeff Belt, co-chair of the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council, said, “The project, of course, represents much-needed infrastructure, but it also represents a huge bet on the most effective economic development strategy working today, and that is the creation of a walkable urban place. Just think for a minute of all the wonderful assets of our city — our beautiful hills, our historic downtown, our wonderful neighborhoods. This traffic-calming, walkable streetscape project is going to tie it all together. It’s going to proclaim the unique authenticity of what’s wonderful in our city.”

Environmental sustainabilityThe North Union Complete Street Transformation was designed to be eligible for Gold Certification under New York State Department of Transportation’s GreenLITES program (Green Leadership In Transportation Environmental Sustainability). Certification is currently pending. GreenLITES recognizes transportation projects and operations based on the extent to which they incorporate sustainable choices.

Environmental benefits of the North Union Complete Street Transformation include these:

Improved air quality through reduced congestion and better use of modes, reducing vehicle hours of delay, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Better water quality by reducing runoff and improving natural absorption.

A reduction of impervious areas by over 35% due to the addition of green median and permeable pavers.

Enhanced cultural and historic resources by restoring property value and making private reinvestment viable and attractive.

A smaller carbon footprint due to the lower consumption of petroleum and increased walking and cycling.

Olean is also under an Order of Consent with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to reduce storm-related sewer overflows into the Allegheny River. The North Union Complete Street Transformation separated roof receivers from the sanitary system.

​SafetyWith 268 accidents occurring on a 0.6-mile segment of road over a five-year period, the accident rate on North Union Street before the project was 13.48 accidents per million vehicle miles of travel (mvm). That was over 4.6 times greater than the New York State average of 2.92 accidents/mvm for four-lane undivided urban roadways.

By replacing the seven signalized intersections with modern roundabouts to calm traffic and improve safety for pedestrians and drivers, the accident rate is expected to have a significant decrease. Studies in the US and Europe have shown that roundabouts help to reduce all crashes by 37%, fatal crashes by 90%, injury crashes by 75%, and pedestrian crashes by 40% (Washington State DOT). A reduction of this magnitude can save over $520,000 per year in accident related costs.

Public Engagement

The community was engaged throughout the conceptual and final design processes with surveys, focus groups, public meetings, and updates to the project website. When City leaders and the public expressed concern about roundabouts, the consultant team arranged site visits to East Aurora and Hamburg. Project Advisory Committee members spoke with municipal representatives about their projects and toured the completed projects. During construction, an extensive community effort was developed to ensure that the public received regular updates on the status of the project and any traffic and/or parking changes. This information was disseminated through different media to try to reach as many residents, businesses and travelers as possible. The major forms of media used included:

A project website (www.walkableolean.com) that provided background information as well as up-to-date Traveler Advisories and project-specific educational materials such as tips to navigate roundabouts, how rain gardens work, and information on the four Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacons that were installed in the project corridor.

A project Facebook page (@WalkableOlean) that was used to post information on local businesses, traveler advisories and project specific information.

Traveler advisories that were distributed by email to local businesses and emergency services.

Two construction guides, one for each construction year, that was. prepared and distributed at the beginning of each construction stage.

A Complete Success... Already!

The North Union Complete Street Transformation has completely changed the look of downtown Olean. Instead of a wide expanse of asphalt, there are now trees, shrubs and flowering perennials lining the street and in the center median. Instead of seven traffic signals creating stop and go traffic with drivers speeding from signal to signal, there are now five roundabouts that slow traffic and create a quieter urban environment. The City has new water service to all the businesses on North Union Street, a stormwater system that has less inflow due to the Green Stormwater Infrastructure that captures much of the street runoff, and efficient LED streetlights that reduce electrical consumption. Bicyclists enjoy using the 6’ wide bicycle lanes, and pedestrians can rest and admire the landscape on the numerous benches placed along the corridor. New businesses are locating to the downtown, and property owners are renovating their buildings. One of the largest employers in the region can still make the shipments that are so important to the economy of the region, and the citizens of Olean can continue the tradition of gathering on the street with their families each year to celebrate the start of the holidays.

The project has transformed the entire community, not just North Union Street. As Mayor William Aiello said at the project ribbon cutting: “The North Union Complete Street Transformation is a complete success.”

Inspiring, exciting, and energizing. That’s how I would characterize my first two weeks at Highland Planning. Long before I came to work here, I found myself impressed by firm’s mission, the team’s passion and energy, and of course, their focus on innovative facilitation and public engagement techniques. I’m still impressed and I’m thrilled to be here.

Here’s the quickie version of my bio: I grew up in Rochester near Cobbs Hill, but spent much of the last 20 years in other places - Colorado, Portland, New Orleans, and Detroit. While living and working in a variety of cities has exposed me to some incredible experiences (and excellent craft beer), I’m excited to be back in my home town where I can put my energy into my own community as well as communities throughout New York State. Highland’s office space on South Clinton Ave is especially fun for me, as it’s just down the street from some of my favorite childhood stomping grounds at Highland Park, Warner Castle, and Mt. Hope Cemetery.

One opportunity I’m most excited about is the chance to unite two of my professional passions: facilitation/engagement and economic development analysis. You might ask how a self-professed data geek who loves technical analysis can also love facilitating meetings and engaging the public? I’ve always felt that the two can (and should) go hand in hand. Both activities have a few things in common: they both involve careful observation, asking good questions, and listening.

I’m excited to be working with the Highland team to expand our capabilities in economic analysis and evaluation—and ultimately help our clients and partners explore socio-economic trends, market and housing dynamics, retail opportunities, fiscal impacts, and other economic factors that can influence a community’s future. I think this is a natural fit with Highland’s expertise in public engagement. A local economy is very much a social realm and it makes sense to me that people should be the focal point of any economic development strategy or project.Along those lines, I’ll leave you with a question to consider: If we elevate a community’s collective knowledge and expertise to the same level as other economic data points, what kinds of new possibilities will we find that help us create long-lasting prosperity?If you have an interesting question, a cool idea or collaboration (or just want to geek out over gourmet tea or craft beer) send me an email. In the meantime, here’s to many more inspiring, exciting, and energizing weeks at Highland Planning!Learn more about our growing capabilities here.